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TOKEN OF A NATION'S SORROW. 



ADDREvSSES 



IK THE 



CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, 



AND 



FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES 



ON THE 



DEATH OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



\ 



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JV^J/e-nf&nrft Jifsfr>?i 



6'=PBESIDEHT OF THE U, S. OF AiffiRICA. 



Boies' JVLY B" !•;«. lllKlJ i'EB Sb" 1S48 



W . t'l ' 



TOKEN OF A NATION'S SORROW. 



ADDRESSES 



IN THE 



CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, 



AND 



FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES 



ON THE 



DEATH OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 



■WHO 



DIED IN THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON, 



ON 



WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 23, 1848. 



SECOND EDITION. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY J AND G. S. GIDEON. 

1848. 



T\ '" 



E3T] 



In the House of Representatives, United States, 

Monday, February 28, 1848. 

Mr. AsHMUN moved the following resolution, which was adopted: 

Resolved, That the Committee of Arrangements be directed to cause to be pubhshed, 
In pamphlet form, and in such manner as may seem to them appropriate, for the use of 
the House, twenty thousand copies of the Addresses made by the Speaker and the Mem- 
bers of this House, and of the Addresses made to the Senate, together with the dis- 
course of the Rev. Mr. Gurley, upon the occasion of the death of the Hon. JOHN 
aUINCY ADAMS. 






INTRODUCTION 



The circumstances connected with the death of the venerable Repre- 
sentative from Massachusetts were so peculiar, that we deem it proper 
to register them in this "Token of a nation's sorrow" — this frail tribute 
of respect to the memory of departed worth. 

Though he had been quite feeble for the last year, Mr. Adams en- 
tered the Hall of the House of Representatives on Monday, the 21st 
of February, in his usual health and spirits. When the House had 
been in session about an hour, the yeas and nays being ordered on a 
question, he responded in a voice unusually clear, and with more than 
ordinary emphasis. The painful scene that followed is thus described 
with accuracy and feeling in the National Intelligencer of the next 
morning: 

"Just after the yeas and nays were taken on a question, and the 
Speaker had risen to put another question to the House, a sudden cry 
was heard on the left of the chair, "Mr. Adams is dying!" Turning 
our eyes to the spot, we beheld the venerable man in the act of fall- 
ing over the left arm of his chair, while his right arm was extended, 
grasping his desk for support. He would have dropped upon the floor 
had he not been caught in the arms of the member sitting next to him. 
A great sensation was created in the House; members from all quarters 
rushing from their seats and gathering round the fallen statesman, who 
was immediately lifted into the area in front of the Clerk's table. The 
Speaker instantly suggested that some gentleman move an adjournment, 
which being promptly done, the House adjourned. A sofa was brought, 
and Mr. Adams, in a state of perfect helplessness, though not of en- 
tire insensibility, was gently laid upon it. The sofa was then taken up 
and borne out of the Hall into the Rotundo, where it was set down, and 
the members of both Houses and strangers, who were fast croAvding 
around, were with some difficulty repressed, and an open space cleared 
in its immediate vicinity; but a medical gentleman, a member of the 
House, (who was prompt, active, and self-possessed throughout the 
whole painful scene,) advised that he be removed to the door of the 
Rotundo opening on the east portico, where a fresh wind was blowing. 
This was done; but the air being chilly and loaded with vapor, the sofa 
was, at the suggestion of Mr. Winthrop, once more taken up and re- 
moved to the Speaker's apartment, the doors of which were forthwith 
closed to all but professional gentlemen and particular friends. While 
lying in this apartment, Mr. Adams partially recovered the use of his 
speech, and observed, in faltering accents, "This is the end of earth;" 
but quickly added, "I am composed." Members had by this time 
reached Mr. A.'s abode with the melancholy intelligence, and, soon 
after, Mrs. Adams and his nephew and niece arrived, and made their 
way to the appalling scene. Mrs. A. was deeply affected, and for some 
moments quite prostrated by the sight of her husband, now insensible, 
the pallor of death upon his countenance, and those sad premonitories 



fast making their appearance which fall with such a chill upon the 
heart." 

Soon after being taken to the Speaker's room, Mr. Adams sank 
into a state of apparent insensibility, gradually growing weaker and 
weaker, till on Wednesday evening, February 23d, at a quarter past 
7 o'clock, he expired without a struggle. 

While he was lying in the Speaker's room, all business was sus- 
pended in the Capitol. On Tuesday morning, the House came to- 
gether at the usual hour. The Speaker on taking the chair announced^ 
in a feeling manner, that his venerable colleague was still lingering in a 
state of insensibility in the adjoining apartment; whereupon, the House 
in solemn stillness immediately adjourned. The same thing occurred 
on the following morning. The Senate also, and the Supreme Court, 
testified their grief by suspending all business. 

Though the health of Mrs. Adams did not allow her remaining con- 
stantly with her husband, she has the consolation of knowing that every 
attention was paid to him, and every service, professional and otherwise, 
was performed, which could avert the calamity, or render his last hours 
comfortable and happ3\ 

It is but justice to say, that all the members of Congress seemed de- 
sirous of testifying their respect, and doing all in their power to relieve 
the distress of the venerable sufferer. Among the physicians of the 
House, Dr. Fries, Dr. Edwards, Dr. Newell, Dr. Nes, Dr. Eckert 
and Dr. Jones deserve special notice. These gentlemen were among 
the first to rush to Mr. Adams' aid, and did all that professional skill 
could do to arrest the disease in its first stages. Dr. Thomas, Dr. 
Lindsly, and Dr. Fry of the city, were immediately sent for, and soon 
appearing in the room, were unremitting in their endeavors to afford 
relief to their distinguished patient. The Chaplains of Congress and 
Rev. Mr. Pyne of the city, were frequently in attendance, imparting 
the consolations of religion. The Speaker and other members of the 
Massachusetts delegation paid every attention to their venerable col- 
league, some of them being with him nearly every moment after the 
fatal attack, and most of them at the time of his death. The officers of 
the House, and even the little pages, seemed desirous of performing 
every act of kindness, in token of their regard for their afflicted friend. 
But neither the skill of his physicians, nor the kindness of his friends, 
nor the prayers and tears of his afflicted family, could avert the stroke 
of death. The decree had gone forth, and the spirit left its tenement 
of clay, to dwell, as we humbly trust, in that "house, not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens." 



ADDRESSES IN CONGRESS 

ON THE 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DEATH OF MR. ADAMS. 



At the usual hour of meeting of the two Houses of Congress, on 
Thursday, Feb. 24, a full attendance of Members and crowded audi- 
ences attested the deep interest of the occasion which called the two 
Houses to offer public testimonials of their profound respect for the 
memory of the Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, who breathed his 
last on the preceding evening, and whose mortal remains yet lay 
within the M'alls of the Capitol. 

In the House of Representatives, as soon as the House was 
called to order — 

The Speaker (the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop) rose, and in a 
feeling and affecting manner addressed the House as follows: 

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives of the United States: 

It has been thought fit that the Chair should announce officially to 
the House, an event already known to the members individually, and 
which has filled all our hearts with sadness. 

A seat on this floor has been vacated, towards which all eyes 
have been accustomed to turn with no common interest. 

A voice has been hushed forever in this Hall, to which all ears 
have been wont to listen with profound reverence. 

A venerable form has faded from our sight, around which we have 
daily clustered with an affectionate regard. 

A name has been stricken from the roll of the living statesmen 
of our land, which has been associated, for more than half a century, 
with the highest civil service, and the loftiest civil renown. 

On Monday, the 21st instant, John Quincy Adams sunk in his 
seat, in presence of us all, by a sudden illness, from which he never 
recovered; and he died, in the Speaker's room, at a quarter past 
seven o'clock last evening, with the officers of the House and the 
delegation of his own Massachusetts around him. 

Whatever advanced age, long experience, great ability, vast learn- 
ing, accumulated public honors, a spotless private character, and a 
firm religious faith, could do, to render any one an object of interest, 
respect, and admiration; they had done for this distinguished person ; 



and interest, respect, and admiration are but feeble terms to express 
the feelings, with which the members of this House and the people 
of the country have long regarded him. 

After a life of eighty years, devoted from its earliest maturity to 
the public service, he has at length gone to his rest. He has been 
privileged to die at his post ; to fall while in the discharge of his 
duties ; lo expire beneath the roof of the Capitol ; and to have his 
last scene associated forever, in history, with the birthday of that illus- 
trious Patriot, whose just discernment brought him first into the ser- 
vice of his country. 

The close of such a life, under such circumstances, is not an event 
for unmingled emotions. We cannot find it in our hearts to regret, 
that he has died as he has died. He himself could have desired no 
other end. "This is the end of earth," were his last w^ords, uttered 
on the day on which he fell. But we might almost hear him ex- 
claiming, as he left us — in a language hardly less familiar to him 
than .'his native tongue — '■^ Hoc est, Jiimirum, magis feliciter de vita 
migrare, quam mori.''^ 

It is for others to suggest what honors shall be paid to his memory. 
No acts of ours are necessary to his fame. But it may be due to 
ourselves and to the country, that the national sense of his charac- 
ter and services should be fitly commemorated. 

When the Speaker concluded — 

Mr. Hudson, of Massachusetts, rose and addressed the House as 
follows : 

Mr. Speaker: I rise with no ordinary emotion to perform a pain- 
ful duty, which has been assigned me by my colleagues, growing out 
of an event which has recently occurred in the midst of us — the 
announcement of which has just been made by the Chair. My late 
venerable colleague is no more ! A great and good man has fallen ! 
He has been stricken down in the midst of us, while in the discharge 
of his public duties. One whose public services are coeval with the 
establishment of our Government ; one who has come down to us 
from past generations, and of w^hom it might almost be said that he 
was living in the midst of posterity, an example to us and to those 
who come after us, has ceased from his labors, and gone to his re- 
ward. The peculiar circumstances of his death are known to every 
member of this House, and are calculated to make a deep and last- 
ing impression. They weigh so heavily upon my own mind and feel- 
ings, that I am almost inclined to believe that silence is the most appro- 
priate token of our grief, and the most suitable tribute to his memory. 



John Quincy Adams was born on the 11th day of July, 1767, in 
that part of Braintree, Massachusetts, which was subsequently incor- 
porated into a town by the name of Quincy, and hence was in the 
eighty-first year of his age. In 1778, when he was but eleven years 
of age, he accompanied his father, John Adams, to France, who 
was sent with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, as Commis- 
sioners to the Court of Versailles. After remaining in France about 
eighteen months, during which time he applied himself closely to 
the study of the French and Latin languages, he returned to his 
own country in August, 1779. In November of the same year his 
father was again despatched to Europe for the discharge of diplomatic 
services, and took his son John Quincy with him. At Paris he was 
put to school, and when in 1780 John Adams removed to Holland, 
his son enjoyed the advantages of the public school at Amsterdam, 
and afterwards of the University at Leyden. Francis Dana, who 
accompanied John Adams as Secretary to the Embassy, received in 
1781 the appointment of minister plenipotentiary to Russia, and took 
John Quincy Adams, then fourteen years of age, with him as his 
private secretary. Here he remained till October, 1782, when he left 
Mr. Dana at St. Petersburg, and returned through Sweden, Denmark, 
Hamburg, and Bremen, to Holland, where he remained some months, 
till his father took him to Paris at the time of the signing of the 
treaty of peace in 1783. From that time till 1785 he was with his 
father in England, Holland, and France ; during the whole of which 
period he was a close student. 

At the age of eighteen, at his own request, made from a fear that 
by remaining longer in Europe he might imbibe monarchical senti- 
ments, his father permitted him to return to Massachusetts, where 
he entered Harvard University, and was graduated in 1787 with dis- 
tinguished honors. Soon after leaving college he entered the office 
of the celebrated Theophilus Parsons, afterwards Chief Justice of 
Massachusetts, where he remained the usual period of three years 
in the study of the law, when he entered the profession, and estab- 
lished himself at Boston. 

In 1794 Gen. Washington appointed him resident minister to the 
United Netherlands. From that period till 1801 he was in Europe, 
employed in diplomatic business, and as a public minister in Holland, 
England, and Prussia. Just as Gen. Washington was retiring from 
oflBce, he appointed Mr. Adams minister plenipotentiary to the Court 
of Portug-al. While on his way to Lisbon he received a new com- 



8 

mission, changing his destination to Berlin. During his residence of 
about three years and a half at Berlin, he concluded an important 
commercial treaty with Prussia — thus accomplishing the object of his 
mission. He was recalled near the close of his father's administra- 
tion, and arrived in his native country in September, 1801. 

In 1802 he was chosen by the Boston district to the Senate of 
Massachusetts, and soon after was elected by the Legislature a Sen- 
ator in Congress for six years from March 3, 1803. He remained 
in the Senate of the United States until 1808, when he resio-ned. 
While in the Senate he received the appointment of Professor of 
Rhetoric in Harvard University, an office which he filled with dis- 
tinguished ability. 

In 1809 he was appointed by President Madison envoy extraordi- 
nary and minister plenipotentiary to the Court of Russia, where he 
rendered the most important services to his country. By his influ- 
ence with that court, he induced Russia to offer her mediation be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States in the war of 1812; and, 
when the proper time had arrived, he was placed by President Madi- 
son at the head of five distinguished commissioners to neg-otiate a 
treaty of peace, which was concluded at Ghent in 1814. Mr. Ad- 
ams was then associated with Mr. Clay and Mr. Gallatin to neo-otiate 
a commercial convention with great Britain, and was forthwith ap- 
pointed minister plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James. While 
in Europe, in 1811, he received the appointment of Associate Jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court of the United States, which he dechned. 

After remaining in England till the close of President Madison's ad- 
ministration, he was called home, and placed by President Monroe at 
the head of the Department of State, where he remained eight years. 

In 1825 he was chosen by the House of Representatives President of 
the United States for the term of four years. On leaving the Presiden- 
cy, in 1829, he returned to his native place in Massachusetts, and in 
1831 he was elected a member of this House, and by the free suffrages 
of the people has been continued in that office to the day of his death. 

This is but a hasty and imperfect enumeration of the public stations 
which have been filled by my late lamented colleague. Of the man- 
ner in which he has discharged these public trusts it is not necessary 
for me to speak. Suffice it to say, that his long eventful life has been 
devoted to the public service, and the ability and fidelity with which 
he has discharged every duty are known and acknowledged throughout 
the nation. His fame is so blended with his country's history that it 
will live when all the frail monuments of art shall have crumbled into 



dust. By his death the country has lost a pure patriot, science an ar- 
dent votary, and the cause of human freedom a devoted friend. 

But it is not as a public man merely that we are to contemplate Mr. 
Adams. In the private walks of life, ''where tired dissimulation 
drops the mask," and man appears as he really is, we find in him all. 
those silent and social virtues which adorn the character. His ardent 
love of justice, his inflexible regard for truth, his stern devotion to the 
cause of civil and religious liberty, were blended with meekness, so- 
briety, and charity. 

But the crowning glory of his character was his devotion to the 
cause of his Redeemer. To that cause he was publicly dedicated on 
the second day of his earthly existence, and throughout a long life he 
manifested a firm belief in Divine revelation, and a calm trust in that 
Being who rules among the nations, and spreads the mantle of his love 
over his dependent children. But he is gone. The places that have 
known him, will now knoAv him no more forever. This instance of 
mortality, at once so peculiar and so painful, admonishes u9 of the 
uncertainty of life, and teaches us so to number our days that we may 
apply our hearts unto wisdom. 

We tender to his afflicted family our heartfelt sympathy, and assure 
them that a nation's tears will be mingled with theirs. And while we 
look for consolation to the wisdom and goodness of an overruling Provi- 
dence, we would affectionately commend them to that gracious Being, 
who has revealed himself as the father of the fatherless and the widow's 
God and friend. 

Mr. Hudson concluded by ofTering the following resolutions: 

Resolved, That this House has heard with the deepest sensibihty of the death in this 
Capitol of John Q,uinct Adams, a member of the House from the State of Massa- 
chusetts. 

Resolved, That, as a testimony of respect for the memory of this distinguished 
statesman, the officers and members of the House will wear the usual badge of mourn- 
ing, and attend the funeral in this Hall on Saturday next, at 12 o'clock. 

Resolved, That a committee of thirty be appointed to superintend the funeral solem- 
nities . 

Resolved, That the proceedings of this House in relation to the death of John 
duiNCY Adams be communicated to the family of the deceased by the Clerk. 

Resolved, That this House, as a further mark of respect for the memory of the de- 
ceased, do adjourn to Saturday next, the day appointed for the funeral. 



Before the question was stated on these resolution 

Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, rose and said: Mr. Speaker: The 
mingled tones of sorrow, like the voice of many waters, have come unto 
us from a sister State— Massachusetts weeping for her honored son. 
The State I have the honor in part to represent once endured, with 
yours, a common suffering, battled for a common cause, and rejoiced ia 



10 

a common triumph. Surely, then, it is meet that in this, the day of 
your affliction, we should mingle our griefs. 

When a great man falls, the nation mourns; when a patriarch is re- 
moved, the people weep. Ours, my associates, is no common bereave- 
ment. The chain which linked our hearts with the gifted spirits of for- 
mer times has been rudely snapped. The lips from which flowed those 
living and glorious truths that our fathers uttered are closed in death! 
Yes, my friends, death has been among us! He has not entered the 
humble cottage of some unknown, ignoble peasant; he has knocked au- 
dibly at the palace of a nation! His footstep has been heard in the Hall 
of State! He has cloven down his victim in the midst of the councils 
of a people ! He has borne in triumph from among you the gravest^ 
wisest, most reverend head! Ah! he has taken him as a trophy who 
was once chief over many States, adorned with virtue, and learning, 
and truth; he has borne at his chariot -wheels a renowned one of the 
earth. 

There was no incident in the birth, the life, the death of Mr. 
Adams, not intimately woven with the history of the land. Born in 
the night of his country's tribulation, he heard the first murmurs of dis- 
content; he saw the first efforts for deliverance. Whilst yet a little 
child, he listened with eagerness to the whispers of freedom as they 
breathed from the lips of her almost inspired apostles: he caught the 
fire that was then kindled; his eye beamed with the first ray; he 
watched the day spring from on high, and long before he departed from 
earth, it was graciously vouchsafed unto him to behold the effulgence of 
her noontide glory. 

His father saw the promise of the son, and early led him by the hand 
to drink of the very fountains of light and liberty itself His youthful 
thoughts were kindled with the idealism of a republic, whose living 
form and features he was destined to behold visibly. Removed at an 
early age to a distant country, he there, under the eye of his father, 
was instructed in the rigid lore of a Franklin, as I have heard him say. 
His intellect was expanded by the conversations, and invigorated by 
the acute disquisitions of the Academicians, whose fiery zeal, even at 
that early period, was waking up the mind of France to deeper thoughts, 
bolder inquiries, and more matured reflection — to result ultimately, as 
ire all know, in terrific action. Returning to this country, he entered 
into the cool cloisters of the college; passed through the various stages 
to acquire that discipline of mind which intense study can alone impart; 
and thence, as he was about to emerge, appeared those buds of promise 
which soon blossomed into those blushing honors he afterwards wore so 



11 

thick around him. His was not the dreamy life of the schools; but he 
leapt into the arena of activity, to run a career of glorious emulation 
with the gifted spirits of the earth. He saw the efforts to place his 
country on a deep and stable foundation, where it now rests. He had 
seen the colonies emerge into States, and the States cemented into 
Union, and realized, in the formation of this confederated Republic, all 
that his ardent hopes had pictured out in the recesses of schools. Young 
as he then was, he contributed, by the energy of his mind and the vigor of 
his pen, to support the administration of Washington, who, we have just 
been told, transferred him at an early age to a foreign court; scarcely 
initiated'into its diplomacy before his services were required for another 
and a more extended sphere. Passing from that, he returned to his 
own country, and was placed by the suffrages of his State in the cham- 
ber of the other end of this Capitol; and there, the activity of his mindy 
the freedom of his thought, the independence of his action, rendered 
him to his constituents, for the time being, unacceptable, by uniting him 
to the policy of Mr. Jefferson. He retired from the halls of Congress; 
but he went to no ignoble ease. Wearied with the toils, heated with 
the contests, covered with the dust of politics, he withdrew to the 
classic groves of Cambridge, and there he bathed his weary mind in the 
pure stream of intellectual rest. Purified, refreshed, invigorated, he 
came forth, after severe study and devout prayer, to do his country ser- 
vice. He was sent immediately to Russia, as has been stated, not to 
repose amidst the luxuries of courts, or in rich saloons, amidst the glit- 
ter of lights and the swell of voluptuous music, but to watch the swell 
and play of those shadowy billows with which all Europe heaved be- 
neath the throes of the great heart of France. , 

Mr. Adams sav/ and felt that the pulse of freedom day oy day beat 
feebler and feebler throughout the continent. He counselled the minis- 
ters of Russia. He was one of those that stimulated them to wake from 
their torpor, and he had the satisfaction to behold, from the frozen re- 
gions of the north, those mighty hordes pour out upon the sunny nations 
of the south to give deliverance to People, States, and Powers. His 
own country demanded his services, and he became, with Gallatin 
and Clay, a mediator of that peace between two nations which we trust 
shall exist forever, while the only contests shall be those of good will on 
earth and mutual brotherhood. 

He went — as his father had gone after the first war of the Revolu- 
tion — upon the termination of the second war, to the Court of St. James. 
He remained not long before another sphere was opened to him. As 
Secretary of State for eight years he fulfilled the arduous duties incident 



12 

to that high post in a country just emerging from conflict. To the high- 
est office of the people he was quickly raised; and how in that sphere 
he moved, with what ease, ability, and grace, we all know; and history 
will record — he crushed no heart beneath the rude grasp of proscription; 
lie left no heritage of widows' cries or orphans' tears. 

He disrobed himself with dignity of the vestures of office, not to re- 
tire to the shades of Quincy, but, in the inaturity of his intellect, in the 
vigor of his thought, to leap into this arena, and to continue, as he had 
begun, a disciple, an ardent devotee at the temple of his country's free- 
dom. How, in this department, he ministered to his country's wants, 
we all know, and have witnessed. How often we have crowded into 
that aisle, and clustered around that now vacant desk, to listen to the 
counsels of wisdom, as they fell from the lips of the venerable Sage, we 
can all remember, for it was but of yesterday. But what a change! 
How wondrous! how sudden! 'Tis like a vision of the night. That 
form which we beheld but a few days since, is now cold in death! 

But the last Sabbath, and in this Hall, he worshipped with others. 
Now his spirit mingles with the noble army of martyrs and the just 
made perfect, in the eternal adoration of the living God. With him 
" this is the end of earth." He sleeps the sleep that knows no waking. 
He is gone — and forever! The sun that ushers in the morn of that 
next holy day, while it gilds the lofty dome of the Capitol, shall rest 
with soft and mellow light upon the consecrated spot beneath whose 
turf forever lies the Patriot Father and the Patriot Sage! 

Mr. Vinton, of Ohio, then rose and addressed the House. 

Mr. Speaker: When the messenger of death enters this Hall, and bids 
one of us " come away," it is our custom to commit exclusively to some 
colleague of the departed member, the solemn ceremony of its announce- 
ment. This is all that usage and a respectful tribute to the memory of 
the deceased require. But the venerable man, whom the destroying an- 
gel smote down in our very presence — the book of whose great life is now 
written and finished — stood out far beyond the rest of us, upon a broader 
and higher elevation. It is true he was the son of Massachusetts, and 
to her belongs the proud honor of having given him birth. But he was 
more than the son of Massachusetts; he did not belong to her alone; he 
offered himself to his country, and she made him her property. His 
fame, his wisdom, and his works, were all his country's. These are his 
rich and common legacy to us all. It is therefore that we of the great 
national brotherhood, claim the precious privilege to cluster close 
around the children of Massachusetts — to take part with them in this 
sad solemnity — to sympathize with them, and with them to give 



13 

utterance to our sorrow, to our reverence, to our veneration for the 
departed dead, and to our deep affliction in this great national bereave- 
ment. I did not rise — I dare not attempt one word of eulogy upon the 
illustrious dead — nor dare I venture to portray his exalted character as 
a statesman, or the bright virtues of his private life. I know how in- 
competent I am to the performance of such a task. I trust that in due 
time, and on some fitting occasion, this will be done by some one of the 
great and gifted intellects of Massachusetts. But still I hope I may 
venture to say, that no man has heretofore died, when a member of 
jthis body, who will fill so large a space in his country's history, or who 
has stamped so deeply his impress on her institutions. The solemnity of 
the occasion forbids, perhaps the period has not yet arrived for the expres- 
sion of an unbiased opinion respecting the effect of his character and ser- 
vices on his country's welfare. But Avhen time shall have numbered with 
the dead us who were actors with him upon this great drama of life; when 
the partialities of his friends and the prejudices of his enemies, if any he 
have left behind, shall have been buried in one common grave, he and 
the work of his great life may be safely trusted to the truthful historian, 
and to the judgment of an impartial posterity. To this great and just 
ordeal, he, with all the renowned and mighty of the earth who have 
gone before him, must come at last. And to its verdict those of us who 
knew him best, and were most devoted to him, are most willing to com- 
mit him, and all that he achieved. The time, the place, and the man- 
ner of his death, all conspire to excite the profoundest sensation every 
where, as they have done in this Hall; and especially to teach us " what 
shadows we are, and what shadows w"e pursue;" to teach us how vain 
and valueless are all our strus-o-les and contests here for distinction 
or for power; and, above all, that no human greatness, no fame, no 
honor, no high attainment, no divine exaltation of intellect, can aught 
avail us to avert the dread sentence of God upon poor mortal man: "Dust 
thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." 

Mr. McDowell, of Virginia, then rose and said: Such for a half a 
century, Mr. Speaker, has been the eminent position of Mr. Adams 
in the eyes of his countrymen; his participation in the highest honors 
which it was theirs to give; his intimate association with controlling 
events in their national annals and with the formation of that public 
opinion which brought them about; such the veneration and almost uni- 
versal homage entertained for his intellect and virtues, and such in all 
respects his great relations to this entire Union, and to the daily thought 
of its growing millions, that on this sad occasion the language of all its 
.parts will be the language of lamentation and of tribute. It is not for 



14 

Massachusetts to mourn alone over a solitary and exclusive bereavement. 
It is not for her to feel alone a solitary and exclusive sorrow. No, sir; 
no ! Her sister Commonwealths gather to her side in this hour of her 
affliction, and, intertwining their arms with hers, they bend together 
over the bier of her illustrious son — feeling as she feels, and weeping as 
she weeps over a sage, a patriot, and a statesman gone ! It was in these 
great characteristics of individual and of public man that his country 
reverenced that son when living; and such, with painful sense of her 
common loss, will she deplore him now that he is dead. 

Born in our Revolutionary day, and brought up in early and cherished 
intimacy with the fathers and founders of the Republic, he was a living 
bond of connexion between the present and the past — the venerable 
representative of the memories of another age; and the zealous, watch- 
ful, and powerful one of the expectations, interests, and progressive 
knowledo-e of his own. 

There he sat, with his intense eye upon every thing that passed, the 
picturesque and rare old man; unapproachable by all others in the unity 
of his character and in the thousand-fold anxieties which centred upon 
him. No human being ever entered this Hall without turning habitu- 
ally and with heartfelt deference first to him, and few ever left it with- 
out pausing as they went to pour out their blessings upon that spirit of 
consecration to the country which brought and which kept him here. 

Standing upon the extreme boundary of human life, and disclaiming 

all the relaxations and exemptions of age, his outer framework only was 

crumbling away. The glorious engine within still worked on unimpeded 

and unhurt, amid all the dilapidations around it, and worked on with its 

wonted and its iron power, until the blow was sent from above which 

crushed it into fragments before us. And however appalling that blow, 

and however profoundly it smote upon our own feelings as we beheld its 

extinguishing effect upon his, where else could it have fallen so fitly 

upon him ? Where else could he have been relieved from the yoke of 

his labors, so well as in the field where he bore it ? Where else 

would he himself have been so willing to have yielded up his life, as 

iipon the post of duty and by the side of that very altar to which he had 

devoted it ? Where, but in the Capitol of his country, to which all the 

throbbings and hopes of his heart had been given, would the dying 

patriot be so willing that those hopes and throbbings should cease ? 

And where, but from this mansion-house of liberty on earth, could this 

dying Christian more fitly go to his mansion-house of eternal liberty on 

high ? 

But kindhng to the imagination and soothing even to the feelings as 



15 

is the death of Mr. Adams, with all the accessories and associations . 
of this spot around him, how infinitely deeper is the interest which is 
given to it by the conviction that he was willing and ready to meet it ! 
He was happily spared by the preservation of his rich faculties to the 
last from becoming a melancholy spectacle of dotard and drivelling old 
age. He was still more happily spared, by the just and wise and truth- 
ful use of those faculties, from becoming the melancholy and revolting 
spectacle of irreverent and wicked old age. None knew better or felt 
more deeply than he, that 

'"Tis not the whole of life to live, 
" Nor all of death to die;" 

and hence for long years, his life has been a continuous and beautiful 
illustration of the great truth that, whilst the fear of man is the consum- 
mation of all folly, the fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom. To 
such an one, "composure" amid the perils of death, and when "the last 
of earth has come," is a supporting poM'er frequently and divinely given; 
and, if it has not been permitted to him, as to a prophet of old, to be 
spared the bitterness of death, and to go to the heaven that he looked for 
and that he loved in a chariot of fire, yet to the eye of human faith his 
access to the same abode has been as speedy and as safe. Instead of 
wearing away under the waste of disease, and passing through all the 
woes and weaknesses which dissolving nature generally undergoes, a blow 
of brief but mortal agony strikes him at once into the tomb, and thus his 
spirit, instantly freed, goes right up to the parent fountain from which it 
came. The messenger calls, the soul is in Heaven. 

At this moment of fresh affliction, whilst standing in the. very presence 
of death, it is not meet to go into any special review of the labors or 
opinions of the departed. Whatever may be thought of those politically, 
he will never be denied the possession of great talents, actuated by 
great virtues, and directed with boldness, honesty, and earnest pur- 
pose, for au unequalled length of time, to whatever, in his judgment, 
was best for the interests, honor, and perpetuity of his country. This 
is the lesson taught by his life. That which is taught by his death calls 
upon us all, with solemn and appealing cry, "Be ye, oh, be ready, for 
you know not the hour when the Son of man cometh !" 

Mr. Newell, of New Jersey, rose and moved the following as an 
additional resolution : 

Resolved, That the seat in this Hall just vacated by the death of the late John 
dciNCY Adams be unoccupied for thirty days, and that it, together with the Hall, 
remain clothed with the symbol of mourning during that time. 



16 

Mr. Tallmadge, of New York, rose and said: 

Mr. Speaker: I do not rise to present an eulogium upon the character 
of the deceased, but 1 am confident that every manifestation of respect 
for the memory of the illustrious dead will meet with a cordial response 
from every member of this House. In compliance with the suggestions 
of several members, and in accordance with my own feehngs, I ask 
leave to introduce the following additional resolution: 

Resolved, That the Speaker appoint one member of this House from each State and 
Territory, as a committee to escort the remains of our venerable friend, the Honorable 
John Quincy Adams, to the place designated by his friends for his interment. 

All the above resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 

Mr. Vinton then moved that the Speaker's announcement of the 
death of the Hon. John Quincy Adams be entered on the journal. 
This also was agreed to unanimously, and then the House adjourned to 
Saturday. 



In the Senate, after the formal annunciation of the death of Mr. 
ADAMS had been made — 

Mr. Davis, of Massachusetts, rose and thus addressed that body: 
Mr. President: By the recent affliction of my colleague, (Mr. Web- 
ster,) a painful duty devolves upon me. The message just delivered 
from the House proves that the hand of God has been again among us. 
A great and good man has gone from our midst. If, in speaking of 
John Quincy Adams, I can give utterance to the language of my own 
heart, I am confident I shall meet with a re.sponse from the Senate. 

He was born in the then Province of Massachusetts, while she was 
girding herself for the great Revolutionary struggle which was then be- 
fore her. His parentage is too well known to need even an allusion; 
yet I may be pardoned if I say, that his father seemed born to aid in the 
establishment of our free Government, and his mother was a suitable 
companion and co-laborer of such a patriot. The cradle hymns of the 
child were the songs of liberty. The power and competence of man for 
self-government were the topics which he most frequently heard dis- 
cussed by the wise men of the day, and the inspiration thus caught, gave 
form and pressure to his after life. Thus early imbued with the love of 
free institutions, educated by his father for the service of his country, 
and early led by Washington to its altar, he has stood before the world 
as one of its eminent statesmen. He has occupied, in turn, almost every 
place of honor which the country could give him, and for more than half 
di, century has been thus identified with its history. Under any circum- 
stances, I should feel myself unequal to the ta.sk of rendering justice to 
his memory; but, with the debilitating effect of bad health still upon me, 



17 

I can only with extreme brevity touch upon some of the most prominent 
features of his life. 

While yet a young man he was, in May, 1794, appointed Minister 
Resident to the States General of the United Netherlands. In May, 
1796, two years after, he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary at 
Lisbon, in Portugal. These honors were conferred on him by George 
Washington, with the advice and consent of the Senate. 

In May, 1797, he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the King 
of Prussia. In March, 1798, and probably while at Berlin, he was ap- 
pointed a Commissioner, with full powers to negotiate a treaty of amity 
and commerce with Sweden. 

After his return to the United States he was elected by the Legislature 
of Massachusetts a Senator, and discharged the duties of that station in 
this chamber from the 4th of March, 1803, until June, 1808, when, dif- 
fering from his colleague and from the State upon a great political ques- 
tion, he resigned his seat. In June, 1809, he was nominated and ap- 
pointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. Petersburgh. 

While at that Court, in February, 1811, he was appointed an Associate 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to fill a vacancy oc- 
casioned by the death of Judge Cushing, but never took his seat upon 
the Bench. 

In May, 1813, he, with Messrs. Gallatin and Bayard, Avas nominated 
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate a treaty 
of peace with Great Britain, under the mediation of Russia, and a treaty 
of commerce with Russia. From causes which it is unnecessary to no- 
tice, nothing was accomplished under this appointment. But afterwards, 
in January, 1814, he, with Messrs. Gallatin, Bayard, Clay, and RusseU, 
were appointed Ministers Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary to negotiate 
a treaty of peace, and a treaty of commerce with Great Britain. This 
mission succeeded in effecting a pacification, and the name of Mr. 
Adams is subscribed to the treaty of Ghent. 

After this eventful crisis in our public affairs, he was, in February, 
1815, selected by Mr. Madison to represent the country, and protect its 
interests at the Court of St. James, and he remained there as Envoy 
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary until Mr. Monroe became 
President of the United States. 

On the 5th of March, 1817, at the commencement of the new admin- 
istration, he was appointed Secretary of State, and continued in the office 
while that gentleman was at the head of the administration. 

In 1825, he was elected his successor, and discharged the duties of 
President for one term, ending on the third of March, 1829. 

Here followed a brief period of repose from public service, and Mr. 
2 



18 

Adams retired to the family mansion at Quincy; but was elected a 
member of the House of Representatives, from the district in which he 
lived, at the next election which occurred after his return to it, and took 
his seat in December, 1831; he retained it, by successive elections, to 
the day of his death. 

I have not ventured, on this occasion, beyond a bare enumeration of 
the high places of trust and confidence which have been conferred upon 
the deceased. The service covers a period of more than half a century; 
and what language can I employ which will portray more forcibly the 
great merits of the deceased, the confidence reposed in him by the public, 
or the ability with which he discharged the duties devolved upon him, 
than by this simple narration of recorded facts? An ambitious man could 
not desire a more emphatic eulogy. 

Mr. Adams, however, was not merely a statesman, but a ripe, ac- 
complished scholar, who, during a life of remarkably well directed in- 
dustry, made those great acquirements which adorned his character and 
gave to it the manly strength of wisdom and intelligence. 

As a statesman and patriot, he will rank among the illustrious men of 
an age prolific in great names, and greatly distinguished for its progress 
in civilization. The productions of his pen are proofs of a vigorous mind, 
imbued with a profound knowledge of what it investigates, and of a 
memory which was singularly retentive and capacious. 

But his character is not made up of those conspicuous qualities alone. 
He will be remembered for the virtues of private life, for his elevated 
moral example, for his integrity, for his devotion to his duties as a Chris- 
tian, as a neighbor, and as the head of a family. In all these relations 
few persons have set a more steadfast or brighter example, and few have 
descended to the grave where the broken ties of social and domestic 
affection, have been more sincerely lamented. Great as may be the loss 
to the public of one so gifted and wise, it is by the family that his death, 
will be most deeply felt. His aged and beloved partner, who has so long 
shared the honors of his career, and to whom all who know her are 
bound by the ties of friendship, will believe that we share her grief, 
mourn her bereavement, and sympathize with her in her affliction. 

It is believed to have been the earnest wish of his heart to die, like 
Chatham, in the midst of his labors. It was a sublime thought, that 
where he had toiled in the house of the nation, in hours of the day de- 
, voted to its service, the stroke of death should reach him, and there sever 
the ties of love and patriotism which bound him to earth. He fell in his 
seat, attacked by paralysis, of which he had before been a subject. To 
describe the scene which ensued would be impossible. It was more than 



19 

the spontaneous gush of feeling which all such events call forth, so much 
to the honor of our nature. It was the expression of reverence for his 
moral worth, of admiration for his great intellectual endowments, and of 
veneration for his age and public services. All gathered round the suf- 
ferer, and the strong sympathy and deep feeling which were manifested, 
showed that the business of the House (which was instantly adjourned) 
w^as forgotten amid the distressing anxieties of the moment. He was 
soon removed to the apartment of the Speaker, where he remained sur- 
rounded by afflicted friends till the weary clay resigned its immortal 
spirit. "This is the end of earth!" Brief but emphatic words. They 
were among the last uttered by the dying Christian. 

Thus has closed the life of one whose purity, patriotism, talents, and 
learning have seldom been seriously questioned. To say that he had 
faults, would only be declaring that he was human. Let him who is ex- 
empt from error venture to point them out. In this long career of pub- 
lic life it would be strange if the venerable man had not met with many 
who have differed from him in sentiment, or who have condemned his 
acts. If there be such, let the mantle of oblivion be thrown over each un- 
kind thought. Let not the grave of the "old man eloquent" be desecrated 
by unfriendly remembrances, but let us yield our homage to his many 
virtues, and let it be our prayer that we may so perform our duties here 
that, if summoned in a like sudden and appalling manner, we may not 
be found unprepared or unable to utter his words, " I am composed." 

Mr. President, with this imperfect sketch of the character and services 
of a great man, I leave the subject in the hands of the Senate by moving 
the resolutions which I send to the Chair: 

Resolved, That the Senate has received with deep sensibility the message from the 
House of Representatives announcing the death of the Hon. John Q,uincy Adams, 
a Representative from the State of Massachusetts. 

Resolved, That in token of respect for the memory of the deceased, the Senate will at- 
tend his funeral at the hour appointed by the House of Representatives, and will wear 
the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. 

Resolved, That, as a further mark of respect for the memory of the deceased, the Senate 
do now adjourn until Saturday next, the time appointed for the funeral. 

The resolutions having been read — 

Mr. Benton, of Missouri, addressed the Senate as follows: 

Mr. President: The voice of his native State has been heard, through 
one of the Senators of Massachusetts, announcing the death of her aged 
and most distinguished son. The voice of the other Senator, (Mr. 
Webster,) is not heard, nor is his presence seen. A domestic calam- 
ity, known to us all, and felt by us all, confines him to the chamber 
of private grief, while the Senate is occupied with the public mani- 
festations of a respect and sorrow which a national loss inspires. In 
the absence of that Senator, and as the member of this body longest 



20 

here, it is not unfitting or unbecoming in me to second the motion 
which has been made for extending the last honors of the Senate to 
him who, forty-five years ago, was a member of this body, who, at 
the time of his death, was among the oldest members of the House 
of Representatives, and who, putting the years of his service together, 
was the oldest of all the members of the American Government. 

The euloo-ium of Mr. Adams is made in the facts of bis life, which 
the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Davis) has so strikingly stated, 
that, from early manhood to octogenarian age, he has been constantly 
and most honorably employed in the public service. For a period of 
more than fifty years, from the time of his first appointment as minister 
abroad under Washington, to his last election to the House of Represen- 
tatives by the people of his native district, he has been constantly retain- 
ed in the public service, and that, not by the favor of a Sovereign, or by 
hereditary title, but by the elections and appointments of republican gov- 
ernment. This fact makes the eulogy of the illustrious deceased. For 
what, except a union of all the qualities which command the esteem and 
confidence of man, could have ensured a public service so long, by ap- 
pointments free and popular, and from sources so various and exalted.^ 
Minister many times abroad; member of this body; member of the House 
of Representatives; Cabinet minister; President of the United States; 
such has been the galaxy of his splendid appointments. And what but 
moral excellence the most perfect; intellectual ability the most eminent; 
iidelity the most unwavering; service the most useful, could have com- 
manded such a succession of appointments so exalted, and from sources 
so various and so eminent? Nothing less could have commanded such 
a series of appointments; and accordingly we see the union of all these 
great qualities in him who has received them. 

In this long career of public service Mr. Adams was distinguished 
not only by faithful attention to all the great duties of his stations, but 
to all their less and minor duties. He was not the Salaminian galley, 
to be launched only on extraordinary occasions, but he was the ready 
vessel, always launched when the duties of his station required it, be the 
occasion o^reat or small. As President, as cabinet minister, as minister 
abroad, he examined all questions that came before him, and examined 
all, in all their parts, in all the minutiae of their detail, as well as in all 
the vastness of their comprehension. As Senator, and as a Member of 
the House of Representatives, the obscure committee room was as much 
the witness of his laborious application to the drudgery of legislation, as 
the halls of the two Houses were to the ever ready speech, replete with 
knowledo-e, which instructed all hearers, enlightened all subjects, and 
gave dignity and ornament to debate. 



21 

In the observance of all the proprieties of life, Mr. Adams was a 
most noble and impressive example. He cultivated the minor as well 
as the greater virtues. Wherever his presence could give aid and coun- 
tenance to what W'as useful and honorable to man, there he was. In the 
exercises of the school and of the college — in the meritorious meetings 
of the agricultural, mechanical, and commercial societies — in attendance 
upon Divine worship — he gave the punctual attendance rarely seen but 
in those who are free from the weight of public cares. 

Punctual to every duty, death found him at the post of duty; and 
where else could it have found him, at any stage of his career, for the 
fifty years of his illustrious public life? From the time of his first ap- 
pointment by Washington to his last election by the people of his native 
town, where could death have found him but at the post of duty? At that 
post, in the fulness of age, in the ripeness of renown, crowned with 
honors, surrounded by his family, his friends, and admirers, and in the 
very presence of the national representation, he has been gathered to his 
fathers, leaving behind him the memory of public services which are the 
history of his country for half a century, and the example of a life, pub- 
lic and private, which should be the study and the model of the genera- 
tions of his countrymen. 

When Mr. B. concluded, the resolutions were unanimously adopted, 
and the Senate adjourned to Saturday. 



House of Representatives, March 1, 1848. — The Speaker laid 
before the House the following communication: 

" Washington, February 29, 1848. 

^' Sir : The resolutions in honor of my dear deceased husband, 
passed by the illustrious assembly over which you preside, and of 
"which he at the moment of his death was a member, have been 
•duly communicated to me. 

" Penetrated with grief at this distressing event of my life; mourn- 
ing the loss of one who has been at once my example and my sup- 
port through the trials of half a century, permit me nevertheless to 
express through you my deepest gratitude for the signal manner in 
which the public regard has been voluntarily manifested by your 
honorable body, and the consolation derived to me and mine from 
the reflection that the unwearied efforts of an old pubhc servant have 
not even in this world proved without their reward in the generous 
appreciation of them by his country. 

" With great respect, I remain, sir, your obedient servant, 

"LOUISA CATHARINE ADAMS. 
^' To the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, 

'' Speaker of the House of Representatives of the U. 5." 



22 



The following members compose the Committee of Arrangements, appointed in com- 
pliance with Mr. Hudson's reeolutions : 



Mr. Hudson, of Mass., Chairman, 
* Mr. Williams, of Maine, 
Mr. Wilson-, of New Hampshire, 
Mr. Marsh, of Vermont, 
Mr. Thurston, of Rhode Island, 
Mr. Smith, of Connecticut, 
Mr. White, of New York, 
Mr. Edsall, of New Jersey, 
Mr. Dickey, of Pennsylvania, 
Mr. Houston-, of Delaware, 
Mr. Roman, of Maryland, 
Mr. McDowell, of Virginia, 
Mr. Barringer, of North Carolina, 
Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, 
Mr. Cobb, of Georgia, 



Mr. Gatle, of Alabama, 

Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, 

Mr. Morse, of Louisiana, 

Mr. Vinton, of Ohio, 

Mr. Duncan, of Kentucky, 

Mr. Cocke, of Tennessee, 

Mr. Wick, of Indiana, 

Mr. Lincoln, of Illinois, 

Mr. BowLiN, of Missouri, 

Mr. Johnson, of Arkansas, 

Mr. McClelland, of Michigan, 

Mr. Cabell, of Florida, 

Mr. Kaufman, of Texas, 

Mr. Leffler, of Iowa, 

Mr. Tweedy, of Wisconsin Territory. 



The following gentlemen compose the C ommittee of One from each State and Terri- 
tory, under Mr. Tallmadge's resolution, to escort the remains to the place designated 
by his friends for interment : ' 



Mr. Tallmadge, of New York, 

Mr. Wilson, of New Hampshire, 

Mr. AsHMUN, of Massachusetts, 

Mr. J. A. Rockwell, of Connecticut, 

Mr. McIlvaine, of Pennsylvania, 

Mr. LiGON, of Maryland, 

Mr. Barringer, of North Carolina, 

Mr. Lumpkin, of Georgia, 

Mr. A. G. Brown, of Mississippi, 

Mr. Edwards, of Ohio, 

Mr. Gentry, of Tennessee, 

Mr. Wentworth, of Illinois, 

Mr. R. W. Johnson, of Arkansas, 

Mr. Cabell, of Florida, 

Mr. W. Thompson, of Iowa, 



Mr. Hammons, of Maine, 
Mr. Collamer, of Vermont, 
Mr. Thurston, of Rhode Island, 
Mr. Newell, of New Jersey, 
Mr. J. W. Houston, of Delaware, 
Mr. Meade, of Virginia, 
Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, 
Mr. HiLLiARD, of Alabama, 
Mr. Morse, of Louisiana, 
Mr. French, of Kentucky, 
Mr. C. E. Smith, of Indiana, 
Mr. Phelps, of Missouri, 
Mr. Bingham, of Michigan, 
Mr. Kaufman, of Texas, 
Mr. Tweedy, of Wisconsin Territory. 



23 

DISCOURSE 



OF 



REV. R. R. GURLEY, 

Chaplain to the House of Representatives, 



AT 



THE FUNERAL OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 



JOB XI, 17, 18. 

And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday ; th(^ shalt shine forth; 
thou shalt be as the morning ; and thou shalt be secure, because there is 

HOPE. 

In some circumstances, on some occasions, we most naturally ex- 
press our emotions in silence and in tears. What voice of man can 
add to the impressiveness and solemnity of this scene? The presence 
and aspect of this vast assembly, the Chief Magistrate, Counsellors, 
Judges, Senators, and Representatives of the nation, distinguished 
officers of the Army and the Navy, and the honored Ambassadors from 
foreign Powers — these symbols and badges of a universal mourning, 
darkening this Hall into sympathy with our sorrow, leave no place for 
the question, ''Know ye not that a prince and a great man is fallen in 
Israel.'" Near to us, indeed, has come the invisible hand of the Al- 
mighty — that hand in which is the soul of every living thing, and the 
breath of all mankind ; in this very Hall, from yonder seat, which he 
so long occupied, in the midst of the Representatives of the people, has 
it taken one full of years and honors, eminent, for more than half a cen- 
tury, in various departments of the pubUc service; who adorned every 
station, even the highest, by his abilities and virtues; and whose influ- 
ence, powerful in its beneficence, is felt in many, if not in all, the 
States of the civilized world. 

Yet, at the hazard of weakening, rather than strengthening, the im- 
pression which this scene must make upon every mind, I must not 
shrink from the duty to which I have been summoned ; I dare not 
hesitate to enforce the great moral lesson which this scene should teach, 
lest the delinquency should be rebuked even by the spirit of the illus- 
trious man around whose bier the Representatives of a whole nation 
gather; lest the very domes, and arches, and pillars, and walls, of this 
Capitol, from which his great soul has just ascended, and which seem 
still informed bv his vital influence, should become vocal with remon- 
strance. 



24 

The words of the friend of Job, in the text, instruct us in regard to 
the effect of a practical sense of reUgious duty on character in old age. 

Incomparably great and sublime are the revelations of Christianity, 
not only in that they assure us of a future and eternal state, of which 
nature speaks but problematically and conjecturally, but in that they 
disclose our relations to our Maker — the realities of His providence and 
grace — the laws which He has established for the renovation, pro- 
gressive development, and final perfection of our rational and moral 
nature, and the consequences, infinitely momentous, of good or evil, 
respectively, which are to follow obedience or disobedience to these 
laws, in worlds beyond death, and inaccessible to essential change. 

Even nature herself would condemn us, if here, in the shadow, and, 
as it were, in the presence, of death, we should cherish the vain ima- 
gination that we are merely creatures of sense and time — governed by 
no laws except those of our physical being — under no higher and more 
fearful responsibilities than to our fellow men — related to no greater 
and more precious interests than those of this world; and that the 
mighty intellect which holds such large discourse, in which the whole 
universe seems mirrored in all the variety of its objects, harmonies, re- 
lations, and proportions, perishes in the transition from life to death; 
for, in the language of the Apostle, "the invisible things of Him (God) 
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his 
eternal power and Godhead;" and thus nature herself, by a law written 
by her own hand upon the heart, binds us in responsibility to her great 
Author, whose glory these heavens declare, making their voice heard 
among all the nations and tribes of man, while of his universal and 
omnipotent Providence day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto 
night showeth knowledge. 

But while nature instructs us in some great religious truths, she 
shadows forth, by fit and impressive emblems, the possibility, and 
more, the probability, of those high moral and Divine laws, for a clear 
knowledge of which we are indebted to Revelation; to the existence of 
which, emanating as they do from the spiritual world, we are so insen- 
sible, because, at present excluded from its mysteries, showing how, 
as by one universal and invisible law of attraction, the Heavens and 
the earth are held in communion, and all the systems of Astronomy, 
guided in their ever relatively varying, mighty, and harmonious revolu 
tions, giving to man all the beneficence of the seasons, and supplying, 
by their constant and benignant influences, all the necessities of his 
physical nature and condition ; so may it be, as Christianity declares 
that it is, a Divine law, that only by a knowledge of his Creator, rever- 
ence for his authority, submission to his will, obedience to his command- 



25 

ments, acquiescence in the methods of his grace, and a true dedication 
of himself to the high service of his kingdom, as founded by our Saviour, 
Christ, man can attain to the chief good of his nature, and be exalted to 
an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, unfading, and eternal. Not un- 
familiar were ideas, kindred to these, to the venerable statesman who has 
just fallen like a father in the midst of his children, and to render the 
tribute of our respect to whose character and memory we are all mourn- 
ers here. "Man (allow me to borrow his own words) is a curious and 
inquisitive being, and the exercise of his reason, the immortal part of 
his nature, consists of inquiries into the relations between the effects 
which fall within the sphere of his observation, and their causes which 
are unseen. The earth beneath his feet, and the vault of Heaven over 
his head, are the first objects which force therpselves upon his observa- 
tion, and invite him to contemplation. The earth and the sky, ele- 
ments so different in their nature, yet indissolubly united by the mys- 
terious mandate of Almighty Power, indicate to his perception, and 
foreshow to his reason, the condition of his own existence, compounded 
of body and soul, of matter and of mind. The earth ministers to each 
and all of his senses the knowledge of its physical properties. He sees, 
hears, feels, inhales, and tastes of earth and its productions, adapted to 
his subsistence and to the necessities of his life on earth. The sky is 
accessible only to his sight; and, although peopled with splendors, daz- 
zling in brightness, and infinite in numbers, still presents to his bewilder- 
ed imagination only the lights of the firmament, hke a halo of glory sur- 
rounding the universe, but glowing at distances too remote to come 
within the reach of any other of his senses. He soon discovers, that 
distant as the great Luminary may be from earth, yet the earth could 
not exist without his generative beams, and that the Heavens declare 
the glory of God, and the firmament showeth forth his handy work."* 

His conviction of the necessity for a Divine Revelation was as un- 
equivocal as of the fact of its existence. " But (I adopt his words) the 
worship of idols is the first great error of man in the state of nature. His 
unassisted mind has not energy to conceive the foundation of all Truth 
that there is one, and only one God, the Creator and Governor of the 
Universe. Bereft of that Divine Instructor, man sees in every thing 
around him the necessity of a Creator, but sees not that there is and can 
be but one." 

* In the truly learned and eloquent Discourse of Mr. Adams at the laying of the 
corner-stone of the Observatory in Cincinnati, from which we have borrowed this pas- 
sage, is one in which, having alluded to the motives which stimulated different indi- 
viduals to observe the stars, to the idea of Pythagoras in regard to the music of the 
spheres, and the sweet lines of the great Dramatist in which that idea is expressed, he 
adds : 

" Oh .' mho is the one with a heart but almost wishes to east off this muddy vesture of decay, 
to be admitted to the joy of listening to the celestial harmony.'''' 



26 

And can it be doubted, that a firm faith in the great truths to which 
nature in all her works testifies^-of the eternal power and Godhead of 
our Creator — and in the truths still more impressive to us of the Christian 
Revelation — that apractical sense, not only of the doctrine of immortality, 
but of individual and constant responsibility to the infinite Father and 
Judge of the Universe — of his laws as extending over all the conditions 
and circumstances, and throughout the whole duration of our rational 
being — of our fallen condition, and the means of recovery through the 
mission and death of his Son and the grace of his Spirit, and of the cer- 
tain connexion between our character and conduct in this life, and our 
character and condition in that life which is to come, can it be doubted, 
that a firm faith in these truths will so correct the disorders of the affec- 
tions, so restrain and repress evil passions, so guard the imagination, 
fortify the conscience, enlighten and exalt the reason, as to form a cha- 
racter clearer even in age than the noonday, and which to all beholders 
shall shine forth, even to the close of life, with the serene and cheerful 
light of the morning. 

Not more certainly is the body invigorated and preserved by suitable 
food, by manly exercises, by the vital air, than are the intellectual and 
moral faculties by the investigation and reception of divine truths, by 
habits of obedience to the divine will, by cheerful submission to the or- 
der and discipline of Divine Providence. Nor let us ever distrust the 
Father of our spirits, who knows perfectly all the wants of our nature, 
but rest assured that his commandments in the sacred Scriptures are en- 
tirely in harmony with the decrees of his providence; and that as to fear 
Him and keep His commandments is the whole duty (because the high- 
est duty, and comprehending all others,) so will it prove the whole and 
eternal happiness of man. If the indissoluble and harmonious connex- 
ion between the laws of nature, of Providence and the moral law, be not 
always obvious, it is always certain. Over all the darkness, disturbances, 
-and evils of the world shines revealed more or less clearly, like the se- 
rene and cheerful heavens, this immutable law, binding Virtue, however 
obscure, persecuted, or forsaken, to reward; Duty, however humble or 
arduous, to happiness. Hence, the declaration, that all things shall work 
together for good to them who love God, and that all things are theirs — 
the past and future — things temporal and spiritual, prosperity and adver- 
sity, angels, and principalities, and powers, and God himself, in all the 
resources of his wisdom and all the eternity of his reign. 

How shone out, clear as the noonday, yet mild and gentle as the morn- 
ing, even in age, in the life and character of that great and venerable 
man, around whose precious, but, alas! inanimate form we all press in 
gratitude, admiration, and love, those high virtues derived from faith in 



27 

« 

God and nurtured by his revealed truth, this bereaved Congress, and, I 
may add, this nation witnesses. 

History will transmit to future generations a just portrait of his extra- 
ordinary character, blending the expression of Roman fortitude, inflexi- 
bility, and patriotism, with the purer and holier sentiments of universal 
philanthropy; the rarest simplicity of manners with the learning of the 
scholar, the dignity of the statesman, and the profound wisdom of the sage. 

But what avails it for our consolation, what to him, independently 
of his sense of religious obligation, did it avail in the great hour of his 
extremity, that he had stood ampng the eminent in knowledge and station, 
shared the highest honors his country could bestow, and won renown even 
from distant nations? 

It is not improbable that the mind of our venerated friend and father 
received lessons in moral and religious duty from his illustrious parents 
even in his early years, which were never effaced. His excellent mother, 
in 1778, wrote to him in these words: " Great learning and superior abil- 
ities, should you ever possess them, will be of little value and small es- 
timation, unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them. 
Adhere to those religious sentiments and principles which were early in- 
stilled into your mind, and remember that you are accountable to your 
Maker for all words and actions." She adds, in the same letter, 
"dear as you are to me, I would much rather you should have found 
your grave in the Ocean you have just crossed, than see you an immoral^ 
profligate, or graceless child." Possibly, (for in the kingdom of Provi- 
dence there is a close and certain connexion between minute moral 
causes and beneficent and great final results,) in these words was that 
instruction which, falling like the rain and distiUing as the dew, first 
awoke into activity that sense of religious duty, and those principles of 
virtue, which so animated and governed his subsequent life.* 

*Those who would duly appreciate the talent and virtues of this eminent lady, will find 
much of interest in tlie memoir of her life and in her correspondence, published by her 
grandson, Chaules Francis Adams, Esq. The following passage from a letter, dated 
London, September 6, 1798, addressed to her son, John Q,uikcy Adams, is seen to have 
been prophetic: "I think America is taking steps towards a reform, and I know her 
capable of whatever she undertakes. I hope you will never lose sight of her interests, 
but make her welfare your study, and spend those hours which others devote to cards 
and folly to investigating the great principles by which nations have risen to glory and 
eminence ; for your country will one day call for your services, either in the cabinet or 
field. Q,ua!ify yourself to do honor to her." 

In another letter she observes : " The strict and inviolable regard you have ever paid 
to truth gives me pleasing hopes that you will not swerve from her dictates, but add 
justice, fortitude, and every manly virtue which can adorn a good citizen, do honor to- 
your country, and render your parents supremely happy, particularly your affectionate 
mother." 

In another she remarks : " The only sure and permanent foundation of virtue is re- 
ligion. Let this important truth be engraven upon your heart; and, also, that the foun- 



28 

Truly emblematic of his moral integrity and strength of character, 
would be the granite column from his native hills, one and entire, just 
in its proportions, towering in its height, immoveable in its foundations, 
and pointing to Heaven as the Temple and Throne of everlasting au- 
thority, the final refuge, the imperishable home of all regenerated and 
faithful souls. 

Independence of mere human authority in the use of his reason, on 
all subjects, was united with veneration most sincere and profound for 
the sacred Scriptures, as a supernatural revelation from God, " whose 
prerogative extends not less to the reason than the will of man,"* and 
Irom a daily perusal of the divine word, and a constant and devout 
attendance upon the public worship of the Sabbath, although diftering 
on some points from common opinions, he cherished enlarged views of 
Christian communion, and recognised in most, if not all the religious de- 
nominations of this country, members of one and the same family and 
kingdom of Jesus Christ. 

It is unnecessary to add, that in all the relations of private and do- 
mestic life he was eminently exemplary, discharging with strict fidehty 
every social obligation, ever disposed to co-operate in works of pubUc and 
general utility, and to extend a prompt and bountiful hand for the relief 
of indigence or distress. 

In November, 1843, he addressed his fellow-citizens in Dedham, and 
said: "With the dawn of to-morrow's day I propose, if it be the will of 
God, to leave my home, in your service, to repair to the city of Cincin- 
nati, there, at the invitation of a learned Society, to give them my 
humble aid in laying the corner stone of an Astronomical Observatory." 

dation of religion is the belief of the one only God, and a just sense of his attributes as 
a being infinitely wise, just, and good, to whom you owe the highest reverence, grati- 
tude, and adoration ; who superintends and governs all nature, even to clotiiing the lilies 
of the field, and hearing the young ravens when they cry ; but more particularly regards 
man, whom he created after his own image, and breathed into him an innnortal spirit, 
capable of happiness beyond the grave ; for the attainment of which he is bound to the 
performance of certain duties, which all tend to the happiness and welfare of society, 
and are comprised in one short sentence, expressive of universal benevolence, ' Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'" 

In another siie writes : " IVly anxieties have been and still are great, lest the numerous 
temptations and snares of vice should vitiate your early habits of virtue, and destroy 
those principles which you are now capable of reasoning upon, and discerning the beauty 
and utility of, as the only rational source of happiness here, or foundation of felicity 
hereafter. Placed as we are in a transitory scene of probation, drawing nigher and still 
niglier, day after day, to that important crisis which must introduce us into a new sys- 
tem of things, it ought certainly to be our principal concern to become qualified for our 
expected dignity. You will doubtless have heard of the death of your worthy grand- 

})apa before this reaches you. He left you a legacy more valuable than gold or silver; 
le left you his blessing, and his prayers that you might return to your country and 
friends, improved in knowledge and matured in virtue; that you might become a useful 
citizen, a guardian of the laws, liberty, and religion of your country, as your father (he 
•was pleased to say) had already been. Lay this bequest in your memory, and practise 
(Upon it ; believe me, you will find it a treasure that neither moth nor rust can devour." 

*Lord Bacon. 



29 

Behold this venerable patriarch performing, at an inclement season of 
the year, a journey of a thousand miles, under a sense of obligation 
which he deemed imposed on his constituents by a declaration in the 
constitution of Massachusetts, "that the encouragement of the arts and ' 
sciences and all o-ood literature tends to the honor of God, the advantage 
of the Christian religion, and the benefit of this and the other United 
States of America." He declared that this clause in the constitution of 
Massachusetts, taken in connexion with the recommendation of the Re- 
volutionary Congress under which that constitution was adopted, made 
the encouragement of the arts and sciences, and all good literature, "one 
of the most sacred duties of the people of Massachusetts in all ages." 
"It is (to adopt his own words on this occasion) enjoined upon them as 
a part of their duty to God; it is urged upon their posterity as always 
adapted to promote their own happiness and the general welfare of their 
country. The voices of your forefathers,* founders of the social com- 
pact, calling from their graves in harmony louder and sweeter than the 
music of the spheres, command you, in piety to God, and in patriotism 
to your country, to patronize and encourage the arts and sciences, and 
all good literature; and I deem it, as your representative, a tacit and 
standing instruction from you to perform, as far as may be my ability, 
that part of your constitutional duty for you." Most nobl}- was this duty 
performed; its beneficial consequences to the cause of science, thouo-h 
already extensive, have but begun to be developed; and this act will ever 
be viewed as illustrating, not only his attachment to the cause of science, 
but that also (for which it is here introduced) of his unhesitating and un- 
compromising obedience to the sense of duty. 

How can I proceed, (considering the brief moments to which I am 
necessarily limited,) and when volumes will not contain the record of 
those labors and great actions of his life which have exalted his own 
character, and shed unfading glory on his country. 

Let us bless God, to whom he was indebted for all his abilities and all 
his success, who endued him for the high services he performed, who 
enabled him to put on righteousness as a garment, and judgment as a 
robe and a diadem. 

Let our united sympathies be expressed to his bereaved family, over- 
whelmed by this sudden and mighty affliction, by which the voice of the 
husband, the father, the guide, is silenced, the light of his venerable 
countenance withdrawn, and the places which knew his revered and be- 
loved form made to know it no more. He, whose mercy is great above 

*To realize the full force and touching eloquence of this passage, it must be recollected 
that the illustrious father of the speaker was the author of the very clause in the consti- 
tution of Massachusetts to which he had just referred. 



30 

the heavens, is Himself the light and strength of his people in the most 
dark and dreary hour of affliction; nor can mourners be desolate who 
look to the eternal God as a refuge, and feel the support and protection 
• of His almighty arm. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Comfort 
one another with these words. 

Alas, the sad and appalling ruins of death ! "This is the end of 
earth." Approach! lovers of pleasure, seekers after wisdom, aspirants, 
by pre-eminence in station, and power, and influence among men, to 
Fame, see the end of human distinctions and earthly greatness ! Sure- 
ly man walketh in a vain show; surely man in his best estate is alto- 
gether vanity. How pertinent to this scene the words of Job: "He 
leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. He remo- 
veth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding 
of the aged. He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth 
out to light the shadow of Death !" How, indeed, is the mighty fallen, 
and the head of the wise laid low! All flesh is grass — all the glory of 
man as the fliower of the field. And shall this vast congregation soon 
be brought to the grave — that house appointed for all the living ? Hear, 
then, the great announcement of the Son of God: "I am the resur- 
rection and the life, and w^hosoever believeth in me, though he 
were dead yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me 
shall never die." Is it strange that Jie who communed so much with 
the future as the great statesman to whose virtues and memory we 
now pay this sad, final, solemn tribute of honor and affection, should, 
in the last conversation I ever had with him, have expressed both re- 
gret and astonishment at the indifference among too many of our public 
men to the truths and ordinances of our holy Religion? Is it to affect 
our hearts that he has been permitted to fall in the midst of us, to arouse 
us from this insensibility, and cause us to press towards the gates of the 
eternal city of God ? Let us bless God for another great example to 
shine upon us, that another star (we humbly trust) is planted amid the 
heavenly constellations to guide us to eternity! Amen. 



31 



THE FUNERAL PROCESSION. 



The procession which attended the mortal remains of the honorable 
John Quincy Adams to the Congressional Burying Ground, formed at 
order : 

MiUtary Companies. 

Band. 

The Chaplains of both Houses of Congress, and Clergy of the District. 

Physicians who attended the deceased. 

Committee of Arrangements. 

the Capitol immediately after the religious ceremonies in the Hall of the 

House of Representatives were performed, and moved from the east 

front of the Capitol, through the north gate, round the western portion 

of the public grounds, and proceeded to the cemetery in the following 

Pall-Bearers. 



Hon. J. J. McKay, N. Carolina, 
Hon. Linn Boyd, Kentucky, 
Hon. John C. Calhoun, S. C, 
Hon. Justice J. M. Wayne, 
General George Gibson, 
Hon. W, W. Seaton, 



Oh 

O 



Hon. Truman Smith, Conn., 
Hon. J. R. IngersoU, Penn., 
Hon. Thomas H. Benton, Mo , 
Hon. Justice J. McLean, 
Com. Charles Morris, 
Hon. Thomas H. Crawford. 



Mr. J. F. Harvey, Conductor of the Car. 

The family and friends of the deceased. 

The Senators and Representatives from the State of Massachusetts, as 

mourners. 

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives. 

The House of Representatives of the United States, preceded by their 

Speaker and Clerk. 
The other Officers of the House of Representatives. 



32 . 

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate. 
The Senate, preceded by their President and Secretary. 
The other Officers of the Senate. 
The President of the United States. 
The Heads of Departments. 
The Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, and its Officers 
The Judges of the Courts of the District of Columbia, 
and their Officers. 
The Diplomatic Corps. 
The Comptrollers, Auditors, and other Heads of Bureaus of the several 
Departments of the Government, with their Officers. 
Officers of the Army and Navy at the seat of Government. 
Members of State Legislatures. 
The Corporation of Washington. 
The Columbian Typographical Society. 
Officers and Students of Georgetown College. 
Officers and Students of Columbian College. 
Literary Institutions. 
Fire Companies, and other Associations and Societies 
of the District. 



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